Beetles and Cats
by TheColourSky
Summary: Switched-roles! Adrein Agreste was a baker's boy. An outcast. What chance will he have with the popular, smart - and beautiful - Marinette Dupain-Cheng? Male! Chloe and Male! Sabrina. Request by Shiranai Atsune.


An image of her slowly visualized in his mind as the teacher's talking droned out. Her shoulder-length dark-blue hair brought out her aqua eyes as she stared at him, her smile growing more and more, one to match his own.

He found himself walking to her, and vice versa. He held out his arms, willing to embrace her, only to find her walking past him, heading towards an unknown figure clothed in black with piercing green eyes.

Watching her jump into the figure's arms he felt a slight twinge of jealousy. His mouth opened and closed, no words coming out. Perhaps he was speaking for she responded, although no words escaped her mouth either, but, it was clear she adored the unknown person, for she had an affectionate, loving gleam in her eye that clearly showed her feelings towards them.

Adrien felt jealously constrict his heart as he glared at the neon green eyes that only observed. Suddenly, she disappeared. Adrien looked frantically all around, feeling a protectiveness for her he couldn't explain. He looked at the masked man responsible for her vanishing. But he was gone as well.

A whisper settled by his ear.

" _Adrien_ ," it sounded like her voice.

"Adrien." A now slightly hoarse voice said.

"ADRIEN." A raspy, aged yell startled him from his daydream. Adrien straitened in his chair as the whole class burst into laughter. He wondered what they were laughing at when he picked up a piece of paper that was plastered on his face.

It was a stickman drawing of what happened in his dream.

His face turned as bright as a tomato as everyone continued to laugh, well, except for Marinette. He smiled at her sheepishly, waving a nervous hand at her. She mouthed a 'hi' before turning her attention back to the teacher, the class's laughter died down as they followed. The teacher acknowledging Marinette before scolding him, but all he thought about was her.

T-that was it! He thought excitedly, I talked to her!

He could see it all now, them years later having a family - three children?- and living happily ever after.

 _Well_ , he thought enviously as he saw a familiar blonde walk over to Marinette, chatting with her, _maybe there might some obstacles…_

* * *

"Seriously, dude?" Nino said as he took a sip of his drink. He and Adrien were eating at their favourite burger joint after school. "You didn't even say anything to her though."

"Well…" Adrien trailed off. Okay, he didn't _exactly_ talk to Marinette, but, it was a start.

"I know... but she did say hi to me," He finished. He picked at his burger as he looked out the window. A blanket of snow covered the ground albeit the streets; where there was slush.

"Did she really?"

"…no."

Nino sighed sadly. "There, there, dude. I will make it my personal mission to get you and Marinette together." He said in determination. He pulled out a notebook from his bag where he wrote something in it. Once he was done, he handed it to Adrien who accepted it hesitantly.

"'A dude's way to getting the Marinette of his dreams,'" Adrien read, "'this and many more tips to finding the love of your life.'" He passed it back to Felix.

"Now," Nino said, "what do you have in common?"

"Well I never really had a full sentence with Marinette, but… I know she likes modelling."

Nino sighed hopelessly. He decided to solve this problem from the root.

"Well, why don't you talk to her?"

As if on cue, two midnight-blue pigtails entered the restaurant. Before he could see any more, Adrien quickly ducked down under the table, dragging a yelping Nino with him. If anyone else were to look at the table, they would see an untouched burger, a wrapper, and a half-full drink along with a container of bubbles with the contents slowly spilling out.

"Shh," Adrien hushed, craning his neck to look at Marinette in an oblivious way. She was now ordering something at the cash register with her friend Alya and an uninvited Clovis. Adrien silently snarled at him.

"Dude!" Nino exclaimed as he watched the soapy liquid drip down the table. "That cost me-" he stopped when Adrien wasn't paying attention. He crawled next to Adrien, hoping to see what caught his friend's attention.

"Who's there?" He whispered.

"It's her," Adrien said dreamily. When he saw Nino get out from under the table, he pulled him back. Nino rubbed his head from where he banged it before lightly nudging Adrien out.

"Now's your chance, dude!" Nino said encouragingly. "Go talk to her!"

"What am I going to say?"

"Anything!" He said. Then added, "Ask her out!"

Adrien instantly paled. He couldn't even get a full sentence out, much less that?

But... maybe...

Before he could say anything else in defence, he was pushed out from under the booth, stumbling before falling on the floor. He looked up to see Marinette offering him a hand. Beaming like a light, he gingerly took it as he regained his footing. As soon as he did, a burly hand shot out and pushed him back down.

"That wasn't very nice, Clovis! You should apologize!" Alya said as she helped Adrien up this time. Adrein smiled gingerly back in thanks. Clovis absently regarded her for a second before turning to Marinette.

"Why don't we ditch this place and go skating?" He offered, swinging an arm around her shoulders as he grinned. Marinette was about to say something but was interrupted by a squeaky voice.

"C-can I come to? - well... not like I _need_ to go - just that... I wouldn't mind going... i-if you would, um, be-be okay with that?" Adrien silently cursed at himself when he realized that was him. His face was probably beet-red right now. After a while, Marinette smiled which made Adrien's heart do a flip.

"Sure." She said, shrugging off Clovis's shoulder. He glared at Adrien in response, well, that is, if Adrien could notice. He was currently celebrating his accomplishment in his head. If you could imagine a hundred Adrien's graduating after successfully finishing 'Full Sentence With Marinette' university and another hundred Adrien's having a 'Ask Her Out' party and another - well, you get the idea; Adrien was in his own happy little world.

That was until a hand was waving in front of his face.

"Hey, dude?" Adrien was pulled out from his thoughts to find Nino staring at him. "You better hurry up quickly or else they're going to leave without you."

Adrien nodded eagerly before dashing after the others out of the restaurant. He - Adrien Agreste - just got an invitation to skate with the most popular girl in school!

"Just keep cool, dude!"

Nino smiled as the door slowly closed. He was about to leave as well when a waiter stopped him.

"Um... are you going to clean that?" She pointed towards their messy booth. A small puddle of liquid soap pooled near it along with the container resting on the edge, its contents still spilling out to join the puddle. A wrapper, an untouched burger and an overturned large drink accompanied it. "'Cause I am not getting paid extra for it."

To add on to her complaints, a customer - oblivious to the mess - slipped on the spill, their tray covered with burgers, fries, and drinks going mid-air before falling into the soapy puddle. The customer, now fuming, made their way to the cashier and demanded to see the manager.

"And... that too." She added blankly, eyeing the mess now added on. Nino winced sheepishly before accepting the proffered mop and washcloth then reluctantly cleaning the table and floor.

 _The things I do for you, dude..._ He jokingly grumbled in his mind.

* * *

Adrien gulped.

Okay, so maybe skating _wasn't_ such a good idea. Considering how the cameras flashed as Marinette posed on the ice, perhaps Adrien shouldn't have joined. He would only get in the way after all.

"Admit it," a voice sneered behind him, speaking his thoughts. "you'll just get in the way, Adrien."

Adrien turned around to find the hulking figure of Clovis glaring coldly at him. He gulped before retorting back, "I don't see you on the ice. Are you scared?"

He grunted in response. "I'm just waiting for Marinette to finish her photo-shoot." There was some unease behind his words.

"Then that means you will get in the way," Adrien smirked as he used those same words Cole said seconds ago.

"At least I'm smart enough to not interrupt her."

"So am I."

They glared at each other for a while. Clovis huffed before walking over to a bench facing the ice rink. He quickly put on skates which had velcro straps instead of laces. As he placed an expensive looking helmet on his head, his eyes flicked towards Adrien.

"Don't you dare go near Marinette." He scowled. And then he was off. As soon as Cole got on the ice, he slipped. Never skating before, he landed face-first on the ice. He groaned as he attempted to get up, put ended slipping on his back.

Adrien barely managed to hold his laughter at seeing the overconfident Clovis flail his arms as he slammed onto the ice for the 6th time. Feeling his spirits go up, he slowly got onto the ice. He clung onto the wall, knowing he, too, was an amateur.

He glanced up at Marinette who was skating around the ice rink, the cameramen now gone. Now was his chance! He idled on the ice, further away from the wall as he kept his balance. He shuffled on his skates in Marinette's direction.

* * *

Clovis growled as he saw Adrien heading towards Marinette. Marinette was his! Not that baker's boy!

"Sabastian!" He barked as tried to balance on the sharp blades. He spotted a kid in a black polka dot jacket holding onto an orange plastic structure skate past him with surprising speed. If that kid could do it then he could do it better! "Get me one of those orange plastic things!"

A boy with glasses looked up from his phone. He thought for a second before suggesting, "do you mean a skating aid?"

Clovis slipped before he met the ice once more, his back aching him. "Yes! That's what I said!"

Sabastian looked around him, searching for one. They didn't bring a skating aid with them due to Clovis overconfidence in himself skating (even though he never did). He eventually founded a small plastic white one right next to a family who was distracted. He hesitated. Did he really wanted to steal from a family? He shook his head. It was for Clovis. Of course, it was necessary. That was what friends were for… right? Helping each other.

Without another thought, he snatched the skating aid without the family noticing. Then there was the problem of giving it to Clovis. He didn't have skates on, so he quickly walked on the ice in his shoes over to Clovis. He wasn't an expert in skating but he wasn't an amateur either.

Unbeknownst to him, a pair of steely blue eyes watched him in jealousy as Sabastian practically skated towards him, giving him the small skating aid then walking over to the bench where he remained.

Clovis glared in envy and jealousy at his friend's back just as he grabbed the small plastic skating aid. As soon as he did, the skating aid slipped from under him. He fell on the ice again.

With a groan, he stayed there for a while before getting and trying again.

And again.

And again.

* * *

"Okay, Adrien, Marinette is right there, just tell her that you love how she skated and that's it." Adrien said reassuringly to himself. "Nothing more nothing less. Shouldn't be too hard."

Adrien quickly felt his hopes quickly go down the drain as Marinette skated on the ice ever so gracefully towards him. What was he suppose to do again?

He probably looked like a tomato in a sea of white.

"Hi...um, Adrien is it?" Marinette smiled at him. She was like an angel...

She knows my name!

"Well - I - I - um... yes uh - not really - if you want to - then o-okay." Adrien practically tripped over his words. Marinette took that as a yes.

She covered her mouth, stifling a laugh as she saw Adrein fall backwards, the ice greeting his sore back.

"Here, let me help you." Marinette held out her hand, Adrien staring at it before accepting it.

"T-thank you... Ma-Marinette!" His voice probably went several octaves higher at her name. He realized he was still clutching her. He hastily let go; disappointed to not hold her, but yet, trying to make her first actual impression of him not awkward.

Well, it's hard to say awkward and not think Adrein.

"First time?"

Adrein looked at Marinette. She was even more beautiful than those pictures he had of her.

She had her hair out, the dark navy locks bouncing on her shoulders. Her blue eyes twinkled, stealing the spotlight from all the jealous stars in the sky. Her cheeks and nose were slightly red from the cold, but it made her all the more gorgeous.

"Huh?" He said, dazed.

"I asked if it was your first time skating." She said.

Adrein felt ashamed. He wanted to look like a professional skater in her eyes. Now she would probably be embarrassed to be with him.

"W-why do you say that?" He asked.

"Because your helmet is on backwards."

"..oh."

* * *

 **Hoped you liked it!**


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